India: Indian Railways project bags green rating

Recognising the project’s efforts towards reducing energy and resource footprint, The Association for Development and Research for Sustainable Habitats (ADaRSH) awarded the coveted GRIHA-Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment-certificate to the Indian Railways’ Secunderabad-based Rail NirmanNilayam project in New Delhi today.

ADaRSH is a society established by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) with support from and under guidance of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India to implement GRIHA, the national rating system for green buildings.

Constructed by the South Central Railways at Secunderabad, the Rail NirmanNilayam project is the first GRIHA-registered project covered under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s incentive scheme to receive the provisional GRIHA rating. It is also the first project of the Indian Railways to be registered for GRIHA compliance.

Congratulating the Rail NirmanNilayam team, Dr Pachauri said, “There is a huge scope to have green and eco-friendly buildings in the Indian Railways. The need of the hour is to create a movement across the Indian Railways to ensure upcoming buildings have a set benchmark to follow in terms of energy efficiency.”

Completed in 2011-2012, the Rail NirmanNilayam project is spread over an area of 7800 square metres, with the built up area being around 4405 square metres. The complex has achieved 36.5 per cent reduction in energy consumption as compared to the GRIHA benchmark by adopting several energy efficiency measures such as use of high performance glass, shading systems, efficient lighting and space conditioning systems, controls for lighting etc.

Shedding light on the project’s highlights, Ms Majumdar, asserted, “The Rail NirmanNilayam building has set commendable benchmarks in energy and resource consumption and is a living example of a project that can be emulated in practice.”

To meet with the rating’s prerequisites, fly ash blocks were used during the project’s construction, while external shading and efficient glazing were applied to reduce solar heat gain.

Moreover, 50 per cent reduction in water consumption was achieved by the use of low flow fixtures. In addition, various renewable energy technologies were also installed on site. For instance, 38.63 KW of solar photovoltaic system has been used to meet internal demand for lighting and 12 LED solar street lights were installed at the project site.

Expressing joy on being presented with the GRIHA compliance, Mr S.K. Sharma,opined,”We are thankful to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and ADaRSH for providing their expertise and guidance during construction of the Rail NirmanNilayam project. We will continue our work to enhance energy efficiency. With recognitions like these, organisations do get enthused to reduce energy consumption and conserve the environment.”

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India has formally adopted GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment). It had also executed an order calling for all future buildings of the Government of India and Public Sector Undertakings to acquire at least a 3-Star rating by GRIHA standards. The Ministry had also announced financial incentives-by way of GRIHA registration fee reimbursement-for the first 200 projects through the 11th Five Year Plan.